Monday, January 4, 2016

Thursday, December 31, 2015

I cannot think of a better way to wrap things up. This will do that. I suppose I could revisit each of the almost 720 posts that comprised the two-year streak and pick the ten that I consider to be exemplary, exciting or enticing enough to honor a top ten, but I would rather move forward and splash some new colors to canvas, bold hieroglyphics to cave wall.

In that spirit of homage, gratitude and progress, here is something that we might be able to take with us into the rigors and delights of the new year. Yeah, I am going to ask the fat lady to sing a top ten aria as curtain closes.

THE OFFICIAL RCVMAN TOP TEN NO-MO LIST.

(Please raise your right arm and repeat after me)

1) NO meat.

2) MO water.

3) MO greens.

4) MO movement.

5) NO excessive use of toxins.

6) MO (way mo) INTENSITY.

7) MO epic, audaciousness, gumption, focus, joy (OK that was 5)

8) MO tolerance.

9) NO fear.

10) MO forgiveness.

Good luck and God speed my friends. It has been a wild ride, one I fully plan on taking to dramatically higher levels in 2016.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

As dynamic a combination as you will find. Kinda like Batman and Robin. Gehrig and Ruth, Maris and Mantle, Lennon and McCartney, Koulfax and Drysdale, Browning and Gaskin. The latter just getting started and still only teen agers, but you get the idea. Dynamic Duos.

Build a complex, compound synergy of attitude and execution and you are gold. Set a target, commit to it, take the first step and keep going.

You might be surprised by the allies you will encounter along the path. Because the universe loves a challenge and folks on a mission. We call it a quest. Some call it the grand adventure and others call it seeking personal legends.

Whatever you call it - and truthfully it requires no name - the first days are the hardest days. BUT YOU MUST BEGIN.

With the somewhere being here and the sometime being now. At whatever stage of fitness, health and successful navigation on the treacherous waters of life you happen to find yourself today, a mere 48 hours from the new year.

Yes, you have LESS THAN TWO DAYS, to come to grips with lethargy and fear. In what may be the best line ever delivered on screen Colonel Jessup nailed it with YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH. He was right and it is true.

We tend to see the world not so much as it is, but as we are.

I will ask of myself the same as I will ask of you. Let us be strong, get stronger, be light, and become leaner, be quick and get faster. WE CAN DO THIS.

If we want to.

If you aren't ready to handle the truth, if you are satisfied with where you are, or if you have tossed the towel, I beg of you to reconsider.

Here is one option, we discussed it yesterday and it will be the Day 1 feature on the new site. We are calling it the 10/10 plan. Loose 10 pounds and gain 10 watts. IN A YEAR! I can (almost) guarantee with conscientious adherence to the daily protocols, you will hit this modest milestone by the Fourth of July. Who knows what we are capable of in those five remaining months.

Ten less and ten more. One measured on the scale and the other by wattage output.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

To add additional clarification, the streak of consecutive blogging days, originally began on January 1, 2014, and intended to encompass 365 days of that ignoble calendar year, will end on Thursday, December 31, 2015, more then 700 days later.

700 days. Well well.

To be fair, I missed a few days. but to be honest, they were for legitimate reasons such as heart procedures, power outages and impossible access to internet connectivity.

All things considered, I think it a success. I am pleased with the effort and hope to take the lessons learned into an altogether new, advanced direction.

Perhaps the biggest and most important lesson gleaned along those rough and rocky 700 days is the one of routine. Carving the time out of every day to sit and write. The joy of discipline meeting up with the creative imperative once a day, every day.

I have some very ambitious goals already set for 2016. I trust that you do as well and will join us for another 365 at the new site.

As for our health and fitness goals, always our main focus, my opening countdown toast to you is this rather ominous one;

Monday, December 28, 2015

Herding the water-fowl (being a Husky fan refuse to use the D word) into formation (a row), we set sights on 2016 and its myriad opportunities. Long time readers can skip to the end as the textual fill today can be classified into a single category of which you are surely aware.

PTW.

Power-to-weight. That ratio again. It is so important that I am toying with the idea of making it our single focus for the entire year. The 2016 Primary Objective. It is my feeling that PTW improvements not only provide extraordinary health, fitness and enhanced performance results, but contain in their tactical execution all of the elements that we detail on a regular basis. Things like getting in regular exercise sessions that push the adaptation quotient, choosing high density proteins as fuel, hydrating properly, managing stress without toxic chemicals, recovering well and sleeping better.

Yeah, those things.

With the 'Day of the Resolution' here on Friday, I thought that it might be motivational and relevant for me to come up with some type of formula for you/us to achieve ONE REALISTIC GOAL for the 365 that will comprise 2016.

Hence the PTW intro.

Let's take a closer look. What if I was to suggest a goal of 10/10? Ten pounds less fat and ten watts more power? Know what? I would (might) kill for that. Point being in regard to the overall value associated. Healthier and fitter, faster, lighter and stronger. Big time stuff.

The challenge of course is to devise an algorithm that would be applicable to everyone. All sizes and shapes, genders and ages, cowboys or hippies, Dawgs or Ducks.

While I would be happy with a net 10/10 there are some that NEED more like 25/5. Or maybe 5/25.

As I sit at the laboratory desk today and watch the cauldrons bubble and hiss, this is my challenge; FIND THAT ALGORITHM!!!

Sunday, December 27, 2015

In my book, finishing on a winning note has always been important. It contributes to so many positive possibilities. The possibilities we like to call potentials. The things you/we/us are capable of doing or becoming.

True, losing always has the 'fire in the belly' motivational option, but I guarantee it is easier to motivate, inspire and commit to something as solid as a victory than it is to wonder why the going always produces injury or insult.

Today as we stand close to the precipice of a new year, we have choices. I will state this for the record (in strict adherence to our AFS (always finish strong) acronymial mantra; We finished the year with grace and élan. While perhaps not stronger than dirt, we did manage to trend encouragingly upwards.

That springboard can propel us to even greater heights in 2016. We can resolve to evolve or stagnate. We can reaffirm our commitment to continual improvement, encouraging those around us (and it IS infectious) to be even better, with more focus and attention to detail, with more dedication and with more zeal. Two items we have been calling velocity and accuracy lately.

I will say it again folks, this is a magical and miraculous ride. It is imperative that we find a way to enjoy this process, day in and day out. Seize not only the moment and the situation but the process by which we master the elements of success.

We talk a lot about three of those elements a LOT around here. So much so that by now they should be second nature. But for the sake of stacking another win atop a season of them, please allow me the luxury of a three point review, this a shot at a successful segue from the powerful now of this present to the unstoppable then of tomorrow.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

'Every second spent in search of your goals is an encounter with the Great Spirit of Eternity'.

Match that up with the unmistakable reality that as soon as, the very moment, that we move in that direction, we receive the assistance of the natural world, and you have an unbeatable one-two punch. Old thunder and lightening.

A quick look at the fine print reveals two crucial points:

1) One must know her goals and be willing to suffer for them, and,
2) One must fully commit to the quest to team with these powerful allies.

Nobody wants half-assed. Take a look at our favorite pop heroes and what they do. They don't spend a lot of time watching TV, wandering around aimlessly wondering what to do, or adding kerosene to the already red-hot flames of gossip and negativity. You can be a super hero too. But...

…Know what? Maybe this is asking too much. I apologize. Maybe you're just not ready for the magnitude of this responsibility. Maybe your foundation isn't solid enough yet to handle this opportunity. After all, you might get hurt. You could fail. You could become the butt of jokes from the peanut gallery. It is easy being soft.

Here on the final Saturday of the year I will ask of myself the same that I ask of you. More.

More awareness, more desire, more courage, more focus and more energy. We all need more commitment in the now, paying homage to our sacred part of the all. The universe is watching amigo.

And just because it is almost 2016 and we are now officially running out of time, I will again suggest that those second-by-second encounters with the Great Spirit and the formation of our personal teams of universal allies assembled for the successful achievement of your personal legends, is it.

RCVman

In 2007 RacerMate Inc of Seattle, Wa. hired me to produce their new software line of products to be called, TA DA, Real Course Videos. So almost overnight I became (cue the theme music) RCVman. This is the story of my work on the road, filming triathlons and searching for true love. Some things never change.